GOP's shrinking appeal to Latinos

Republican presidential candidates' share of the Latino vote:

George W. Bush (2004) – 44 percent

John McCain (2008) – 31 percent

Mitt Romney (2012) – 27 percent

Source: Exit polls

SANTA ANA – Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, vowed Friday that the GOP would engage in a long-term outreach in the Latino community, and said immigration reform was a key component to the party turning around its feeble fortunes among Hispanics.

"We need to show up, we need to listen, and we need to put our money where our mouth is," Priebus told reporters after a closed-door session at Santa Ana's Green Parrot cafe with about 60 Latino leaders, most of them Republicans from throughout Southern California. "We've got to show up and not just three months before the election. This is not a short-term view. This is a long-term vision."

While the 90-minute meeting was billed as a "listening session," it served primarily to allow Priebus to outline his plan to build a permanent bridge to the Latino community, according to Santa Ana's Manny Padilla, a longtime GOP activist on hand. Priebus also introduced the new head of the RNC's national Latino effort, former San Clemente resident Jennifer Sevilla Korn.

Sevilla Korn led President George W. Bush's 2004 Latino campaign effort, helping the incumbent win 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. In sharp contrast, Mitt Romney won less than 27 percent of that vote in his 2012 challenge of President Barack Obama.

Priebus was quick to criticize Romney's campaign statement that Latinos in the country illegally should be forced out by "self-deportation" and his dismissal of the 47 percent of the population that receive government checks.

"That's not what our party's about," Priebus said. "We're the party of the 100 percent."

He applauded efforts by GOP Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul to pass immigration legislation that would legalize the status of most of the 11 million in the country without documents.

"Clearly immigration reform is very important to the future of the Republican Party," he said. "I have a pretty good feeling that there's going to be comprehensive immigration reform this year."

Sevilla Korn, who started in her post three weeks ago, told the Register that she would be hiring staff nationwide and also building neighborhood volunteer organizations to work in Latino communities. There would be a commitment to meet with churches and businesses, to going door-to-door, and to making sure Republican elected officials spoke to Latino groups regularly.

"We're going to be in the community on a permanent basis," she said.

One challenge Republicans face is keeping aboard the grassroots activists – predominantly non-Latinos – who oppose legalizing those now in the country without documents. Padilla noted that Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh has been advocating immigration policy changes – "but he's having difficulty with some people on the Central Committee." That committee is the county party's governing board.

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